Vic Labor moots workplace AI and biometrics surveillance curbs

Victoria's Labor government is looking to restrict the use of AI and biometrics for workplace surveillance under proposed laws.

Premier Jacinta Allan launched the plan alongside Jaclyn Symes, Victoria's treasurer and minister for industrial relations, flanked by union leaders, including Victorian Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari.

Should Labor win the upcoming November 2026 state election, the party intends to introduce a bill to legislate restrictions for behavioural surveillance.

Labor is also wanting to address AI bias in recruitment, by requiring a human in the hiring loop.

Biometrics technology will also face curbs, with data to be collected only when there is no less intrusive option available.

Furthermore, biometric data cannot be used to read emotions, Labor proposes, unless there's a legitimate reason to so do, like fatigue monitoring for truck drivers.

"We're hearing stories about people's emotions being read, about whether they are susceptible to post-traumatic stress disorder, picking up whether they're pregnant before they're publicly disclosing that," Symes said.

The proposed four-element legislation would also give workers a right to know when they are monitored, and what happens to the data collated as part of that process.

Hilakari described a Victorian company that recorded audio and video through staff computers for 10 hours straight while employees worked from home, capturing private conversations and children in the background, and sacking two workers after they complained.

Consultation between employers and staff would also need to take place before surveillance is introduced, or changed.

Selling workplace surveillance data will be banned outright under the proposed law.

Symes referred to existing, dedicated workplace surveillance legislation in NSW and the ACT, and said Victoria's bill will be complementary to both but slightly stronger in other elements.

Getting the balance right on workplace surveillance can be complex, with employers saying that monitoring employees is often done to ensure workers' safety and to meet regulatory requirements for compliance and record keeping.

Surveillance also improves businesses and protects them, employers say.

Symes was clear in the announcement that the aim of the proposed new law is not to the outright banning of surveillance, but to make sure it's fair, balanced, ethical and done with consent.

Victoria's parliament tabled a report on workplace surveillance in May last year, following an inquiry that began in 2024.